bloggie blog

As you may recall, I turned in my old car on Monday. I’m getting another car Saturday morning, leaving me with five days of carlessness in between. In LA.

A few observations:

1. It’s been pretty damn hot this week. Much sweating, much swearing.
2. I’m glad I had a free 5-day pass, one that they give out pretty liberally to people new to town.
3. Boardings: subway, 2; bus, 17.
4. Walking: too much given No. 1 above. But it’s good for me, so no biggie.
5. Rides mooched: 1.
6. Meetings late to: 1. Meetings missed: 2.

It’s the last one that’s the killer. And ultimately unacceptable. You have to allot too much time for early or late buses, is what it comes down to. And sometimes you have to wait in full sun. And those GD motorcycle drivers are such D-bags. And you have to pay close attention the entire time you’re waiting for a bus, keeping an eye for the next bus; those MFers will drive right past you otherwise. It’s just not right.

Sure, some routes are easy-peasy, maybe even easier than riding a car, especially if it involves only the subway, but the pricing scheme in LA is too steep — transfers are not free! Too steep except for long-term passes, so the system discourages casual use. Another huge problem. If I could change the world….

I just sent out a milestone email, highlighting the six months since my last milestone email. Here it is, for those not on my list:

Hey there! I have now lived one year in Los Angeles. The year in one word: awesome. Many good things keep happening, professionally and personally. Some highlights of recent awesomeness:

I wrapped the independent feature film Look in the Mirror. What a great experience. I play the lead character, so there were many days of work, challenging and rewarding. Principal photography and pick-up scenes are both done as of last week, and it’s about to be submitted to festivals! Big thanks to that gang.

I’m very happy with my new commercial agent, Kazarian/Spencer/Ruskin & Associates, commonly called KSR. It’s awesome that KSR attracts good people. Another great actor in my indie film? She’s with KSR. A very talented actor in a recent reading? Ditto. A new friend I met at an Audi commercial? Yup, you guessed it, he’s with KSR, too. “They’re family,” he said, over one of LA’s best burgers at The Counter in Santa Monica.

I had a rewarding table read of a new script from a Boston writer, and it offered a chance to reconnect with actors from Brotherhood. I performed in a new play at the Autry Museum, whose theater is dedicated to storytelling focused on Native Americans. I started to understudy a popular show at Two Roads Theatre. I shot a webisode where hilarious immoral things happen. I filmed a scene with a Boston friend. I did long-form improv at UCB. I shot short films at USC. I auditioned for TV shows. I did voiceover work.

I … well, the list goes on. I can’t possibly include every Good Thing, but I’ll finish by expressing gratitude for the awesome peers I have discovered in my two top-secret acting communities. I feel at home and I’m loving the ever-growing web of people I am meeting here. You guys rock! (And the communities are not really top-secret.)

Finally, in case you haven’t noticed, social media is the new thing. You know, things like Twitter. My favorite new Site Of The Week is Personas. You should go there now and enter your name to see how the Internet sees you. But Personas is not perfect. Enter my name, and the largest chunk comes out as “sports.” Uh, that’s not me. So know that the Kevin Ashworth who is a teenage soccer phenom in Palo Alto, and the Kevin Ashworth who plays rugby in the Cayman Islands, and the Kevin Ashworth who lives in Toronto and is my Facebook friend and his status updates are always about baseball — these are different Kevin Ashworths. Good guys, well-named, but different.

That’s it for now. More (always more) on Bloggie Blog. Thank you for reading, and please let me know if there’s anything I can do for you!

Best,

Kevin

As of today, I do not have a car. I bid farewell to Saabie Saab, a lovely leased 2007 Saab 9-3 that I returned today. I then took the bus / subway / feets back home.

I was carless a few days right before I got Saabie Saab and the world has changed since then in one important way: Google Maps for iPhone now has excellent public-transportation options for Los Angeles. I used it more than once today. I’ll use it again tomorrow. The next car is a few days away still, so until then I am (a) Greener Than Thou and (b) grateful for Google.

I am happy to write my final post about Look in the Mirror.

To recap, Look in the Mirror is an independent feature film in which I have the lead role. I blogged about it months ago when the bulk of the shooting happened. Yesterday was my final day on this awesome project. Yesterday was a long day of pick-up scenes with more makeup and wardrobe changes in one day that I’ve ever experienced. Yesterday was 14+ hours of work, with Jason, Brian, Michael, Ally, Tim, Pamela, Barbara, Leslie, Fred. To all: thank you, thank you, thank you.

Next step: festival submissions! Stay tuned.

For a few years now, the size of fonts on my web site has been what it is as you read this, and that size is just that much larger than most other personal sites or weblogs. Just that much larger than most WordPress templates, as one shining example. And a whole lot larger than the trend to mini fonts that was taking over the Internet when I started this site. (Remember the mini fonts? You don’t see those much these days.)

Now, I believe there is a place for small fonts — in captions, in secondary data like dates and tags, etc. But I believe in making main articles easy to read!

Here are a few things I’ve noticed lately along the lines of type size.

1. Google has upped the size of the font you type into the search box. It’s been a week or two, now. Nice.
2. Newsweek has a font-size selector next to its articles that slides! Love it. See this article as an example.
3. If you disagree and think smallest is bestest, use this crazy font with an x-height of 3 pixels. (Typophile is awesome.)

Goodnight!

It has been many moons (literally) since I blogged about Look in the Mirror. Principal photography wrapped some time ago, but the movie wasn’t “done done.” For various reasons, including crew illness, the time between wrapping principal photography and actually getting all photography done was longer than expected.

But! The exciting thing is that Wednesday is a full day of work for me on Look in the Mirror! I look forward to it! I will blog about it! Yay!

I’m back into Breaking Bad. I’ve let a few episodes accumulate in the ol’ TiVo and gather some serious dust, but am now determined to finish Season Two. It’s awesome, so the determination level required is low.

New to the series in this episode, Bob Odenkirk plays Saul Goodman, a sleazy lawyer introduced via low-budget local commercials that play while two other characters get it on. Bob Odenkirk does excellent guest-star work in this episode, and his character could easily be with us for several episodes more. I kind of recognize Bob, but looking at his IMDb page, I realize that it’s more accurate to say that although he’s worked a ton, I have no idea who he is. That’s the kind of actorly success I aspire to! (For non-actors, that may sound ironic. It’s not.)

Also, I’m liking Todd VanDerWerff’s write-up on this episode.

Breaking Bad is a well-made show! Will it win the Primetime Emmy on September 20th? I’m rooting for it, along with Big Love and Dexter.

I had a brief lunch with an old friend from Boston today. This was good! (Also good: more and more, restaurants are happy to serve a bun-less burger with fruit on the side.)

But Linda, we didn’t take a picture! This was not a wise turn of events. I posed at the stop of the stairs. The street we met was lovely, as was the weather, as were we all. In other words, the conditions were oh so right! Oh, well. Next time. Next time we’ll snap a pic.

Nice seeing you!

On Saturday, I had took a delightful drive through the San Fernando Valley, those northern reaches of the endless city of Los Angeles. The drive was delightful because of my companion. I should start there, yes, indeed I should. Anyway, we crossed a prominent street in the Valley called Oxnard Street. Also, there is a town here in southern California called Oxnard. The word Oxnard is not a good word.

In a previous life, when I lived in San Diego and worked for Hewlett-Packard in the northern reaches of that endless city, my work address was Rancho Bernardo Road. Again with the n-a-r-d. Some people, as I understand it, are fond of the name Bernardo for various literary reasons. “Pshaw!” I say. It’s hideous, absolutely hid-jus, at least when you are introduced to it by the street namers of San Diego. An horrifying proliferation of Bernardo’s exists there. Look it up on Google maps: West Bernardo Drive, Bernardo Center Drive, Rancho Bernardo Road, Bernardo Court, Bernardo Heights Parkway, and on and on. Enough with the nards!

Thanks for listening. May your Labor Day be nard-free.

This iPhone photo provides a glimpse of tonight’s wonderful reading of the new play Tombs of the Vanishing Indian by Marie Clements. A great opportunity for all of us actors. Thank you, Marie. Thank you, Autry.